Automobile signal apparatus



April 20, 1954 R. PALAZZOLO AUTOMOBILE SIGNAL APPARATUS Filed Aug. 7,1952 INVENTOR. Rosario Polczzolo' B ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 1954 UNITEDSTATES ATENT' OFFICE 2,676,311 AUTOMOBILE SIGNAL APPARATUS RosarioPalazzolmBronx, N. Y. Application August 7, 1952, Serial No. 303,047

1 Claim.

cating or annunciating apparatus adapted to be mounted on a motorvehicle in a place where it will be most'con spicuou's and clearlyvisible in its entirety fromboththe front and back of the vehicle sothat it cannot fail to be seen by everyone in the, immediate vicinity.To this end, the indicator comprises an elongated casing afiixed to thetop of the vehicle in transverse position, and preferably extending fromside to side there- 'of, carrying indications facing" to both the frontand rear; and having means for causing said indications to make known toall observers what the driver of the vehicle wishes to do in the nextmoment.

Another object is to provide such an annunciator or indicator that issimple and practical and capable of being attached to any conventionalmotor vehicle without requiring any change in the construction, orinterfering at all with the operation of any of its accessories ornecessary parts.

The nature and other objects and advantages of the improvement areclearly described herein and a preferred form of the indicatingapparatus is illustrated in the drawings. But I do not wish to belimited to the exact structure shown, for changes in minor respects maybe adopted without deviation from the general plan in which theinvention resides.

On said drawings:

Figure 1 is a front view of an indicator casing mounted on top of thebody of a motor vehicle.

Figure 2 is a rear view of what appears on Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an end elevation of the casing; and

Figure 4 shows diagrammatically how the apparatus is operated.

The numeral I indicates a casing having windows 2, of glass or otherlight-transmitting material, at the front and rear. Each of thesewindows bears the letter S in the middle and an arrow 4 near one end andan arrow 5 near the other. These arrows point in opposite directions.The casing is closed at the top and ends and the ends have projections 6at their lower edges, with openings for screws or bolts 1, so that thecasing can be secured in place on the outer surface of the roof 8 of anautomobile or other motor'vehicle as shown. To attach the casing th top8 of the automobile can be pierced with openings and threaded boresworked in the ends of one of the cross bars 9 of the frame work of thecar, just under the top. The indications 3, 4 and 5 therefore are seenfrom both the front and rear of the car; and the casing is long enoughtoextend substantially over the entire width of the car and high enoughfor th indications to be of large size. Hence the signals can beconspicuous enough to be observed by everybody in the vicinity of thevehicle.

The windows 2 can be of light-transmitting material with the signals ofopaque material or the windows can be opaque and the signalslighttransmitting; and the casing and signals are large enough so thatthe signals are very noticeable when they are used. The signals of themiddle pair 3 are identical, and so are the indications of the pairs 4and 5. Within the casing are lamps H), II and I 2 one between each pairof duplicate signals on the windows 2. When the middle lamp isilluminated the middle signals 3 become very noticeable and warneverybody that the driver wants to slow down or stop. When one of theother lamps is illuminated it gives everybody warning that a turn to onehand or the other is about to be made. The signals may also transmitsome light to show brightly whenever a lamp is illuminated.

The lamps illuminating members Ill, H and I2 are controlled by selectormeans inside the car within reach of the driver, so that any one of thelamps may be energized as desired. Such means are indicated on Figure 4,which shows a circuit and switching means for controlling the circuit,and a source of electricity, such as a bat tery H, which may be thebattery for lighting the car, is included in the circuit. An insulatingbase 18 supports a bearing H! which receives one end of a rotatable stud20. To this stud carries a pivoted arm 2!, on the outer end of which isa knob 22 the pivot pin connecting the arm 2| to the stud 20 beingindicated at 23. The arm 2| has a shoulder 25 near the pin 23 and at thetop the stud 20 has a stop 26 engaged by th shoulder. The stud 20 alsohas a. pin or projection 21 below the pivot pin 23 and the arm 2| has astud or projection 28 in the side thereof near the pin 23. A bent spring29 makes contact with the pivot pin 23 at the center and engages theprojections 21 and 28 so that the arm 2| is.

normally held with its shoulder 23 against the pin 25.

On the outer end of the arm which may be of metal is a leaf springterminal 30 and below the arm of any suitable support are terminals l3,l4 and i5 connected to the lamps 10, H and :2 respectively. Theterminals l3 and 15 are higher than the middle terminal [4. The lamps10, II and I2 are grounded and so is the low voltage or negative pole ofthe battery 11. The other pole is connected to the arc-shaped terminal3| under the arm 2| and long enough for the spring 30 to be in contactwith it when the spring 39 engages any one of the terminals 63, i4 andii"); the rear end of the spring 30 being bent down lower than the frontend which makes contact with the terminals I3, i i and 15.

Hence the operator of the vehicle merely by depressing the arm 2! canmake contact with the middle terminal It, and thus causes the middlelamp l4 lights up; by throwing the arm 2| to the right or the left thespring terminal 32) engages with one of the terminals !3 or l5 andcauses the other lamps to light up and direct attention to either one ofthe pairs of arrows 4 or 5.

The casing has opaque inside partitions 31a between the middle lamp andthe other lamps to ensure only the illumination of one pair of signalsat a time. Also the upper end of the bearing l9 has a recess 32 and thestud 20 a step 33 in said recess to hold the switch within the range ofthe terminals 13, Hi and it.

I do not wish to be limited to three lamps only, as more than one lampcan be used in conjunction with each signal if desired.

Having described my invention, what I believe to be new is:

An annunciator for giving a visible advance signal of a change of motionin the travel of a motor vehicle, comprising a casing having front andrear sides of light transmitting material, said casing being disposed onthe outside of the roof of the vehicle and extending across said roof,the casing having projections at its ends near its bottom, fasteningmeans in said projections to secure the casing in place on said roof,said front rear sides each bearing an indication adjacent the middle,said pair of indications be ing identical; and likewise each bearing anindication near each end of the casing, each pair of indications near anend also being identical, an illuminating member between each pair ofidentical indications in said casing, an electric circuit including asource of electrcal energy for said members, and selective means in saidcircuit to enable the operator of the vehicle to close said circuitthrough any one of said members to maize any or said pairs ofindications clearly visible at the front and rear of the vehicle, saidselective means comprising three terminals placed end to end in a row,one connected to each illuminating member, the middle member being lowerthan the other two, a long terminal extending from end to end of saidrow, a rotatable and depressible arm in said circuit and a resilientterminal carried by said arm to connect either of the terminals in saidrow to the long terminal.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 1,972,090 Getty Sept. i, 1934 2,106,643 Mellen et al Jan. 25,1938 2,336,905 Weish Dec. 14, 1943 2,486,476 Kelley Nov. 1, 1949

